REACTS OLE LAE ESA BE CS

Uprooting tradition
as the world whirls

Bid hello to new year in memories of past

‘AS I write, New Year’s Day is
unfolding, wet and rather
duli, but nonetheless willy-
nilly wearing its annual -
Herald’s costume.

~ Eleanor
Godley

: “We're into another fresh round.
It’s our own shortcomings that per-
suade us to try to keep this magic
it Was just as magic a year
ago, but we, as we always do,
_Meseed it up with wars ”

. 66 When we were young we made
- lists: ‘I will read Proust this year’; I
~.. will perfect my serve, and beat that
’ red-haired whirlwind ail hollow’. 99

When we were young, we made
Hists:'“I will read all of Proust this © .
; “L will perfect my serve, and -

red-haired whirlwind all

I will be nice to my little _ :

sister and let her;

We know that our chances of change
have all the stamina of the proverbial
snowball. So, wisely, we put up the
new numbers, 1,9,9,6, and mumble
them to memorize them, and sorrow-
fully discard expectations that we
will achieve change.

But one still remembers the lift of
the heart because it’s a brand new
chance.

In my olden days in the North,
New Year’s Eve was probably the
high point of our social life, which is
saying a lot, because in a small
town, in a harsh climate, there’s an
amazing depth and breadth to the
constant social arrangements which
encourage mingling. (Was it partly
just to keep warm?)

With television dad computers
rampant, the need to gather in
groups — to keep connected — has
been vastly diluted, as people can
have visible company and contact
even if it isn’t in the same room.

Actually, people don’t need each
other anymore, at the start of new
years or any other time. That's pretty
awful, when you think about it. It
reinforces my feeling that I'm glad
T'm as old as am ~ what’s coming

: won't have any use for needers.

But in those days, there was an
awful lot of mingling going on in

* our town on the occasion of New
~ Year's Eve. Three or four of the

biggest homes would follow the nice

‘old Scottish custorn of “first foot--

ing”, and that was no fooling, we
did do it all on foot.
‘We had really snowy winters in

For further selection of dates, times & -
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Please call: 321 -2651

St. John Ambulance

NOTICE OF ANNUAL
GENERAL MEETING
Pacific Open Heart Association

Saturday, January 13, 1996 1:30 pm |
! y

West Burnaby United Church, 6050 Sussex
Ave., Burnaby, B.C. One block north of
METROTOWN, Off Kingsway.

Association

The agenda will include the adoption of audited

4 P.O. Box 3979 M.P.O. financial statements: reports of the Board of

‘Vancouver, B.C.
-¥6B3Z4

“"'] Phone: 436-9005 upon.

Directors: changes in By-Laws to be voted

_GUEST SPEAKER: Mark Fletcher, V/Pres. Burnaby
: Firefighters Association, Local 213.

those days, too, (Oh I know, the
snow you remember is always six
feet deep, but it’s true.) I look at the
weather statistics in the paper now
and am amazed at the mild reports.
I'm talking about the thirties, when I
reached the age of consent (I could
say yes to a drink) and was allowed
to join my elders in the holiday rites.

And when the clock struck mid-
night you could hear the voices from
every part of town. People would
come out of doors and stand in the
midnight freeze to promise their
friends and neighbors they would
never be forgot. The still air would
carry every creak of a footfall on
packed snow, every snap of an over-
laden branch and every stanza of
“Auld Lang Syne”.
~ Then there'd be a dance some-
where. The men would circulate
their mickies and the ladies wouid
eye each other’s party dresses.
There'd be no chance to wonder
what the world was coming to
because everyone would be perspir-
ing freely and pounding around the
floor to the tune of “Turkey in the
Straw.”

It’s not like that any more, there

or any other place. But
m we had it in various

. parts of the world, and
they're the memories we

then. And smile.

When we're gone,
those memories will be
gone too. As the world
not only turns, it whirls

' around in a sort of fren-
zy, and traditions don’t
have a chance to take

Pe prepared for the: :
new year by taking a ride on the ~~
train through the white elegance of

Whistler country and over the high

veldt into upland meadows with

‘almost no signs of snow.

Up one day and back the next.
Just enough to restore one’s perspec-
tive and get a grip on the fact of a
brand new year.

- May yours be pleasurable and

. profitable to the spirit.

Ada Leung
| Pharmacist A
| CAPSULE COMMENTS

i Alcohol is a drug. It has sedative }

} properties and is very interactive |

| with many medications. If you qj).

1 use this drug on a regular basis, it |
1 is important you let your doctor |
| and pharmacist know. It can have

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DAVIES PHARMACY
y__1401 St Georges 985. “8771

like to tum over now and

ON SALE NOW

bone in, cut from Canada A grades of beef

chuck blade

roast
3.26kg ib.

fresh

tomatoes

1.52 kg

squeeze
ketchup
004895

McCain, assorted, 355ml, concentrated

frozen
puneh

706556

Becel, soft, regular or light, 454g .
7 | 5
margarine

202630

Prices in effect until! closing January 13, 1996, while stocks last °
We reserve the right to limit quantities. a co